Stephen Fuller Austin, born in Austinville, Va., November 3, 1793, died
December 27, 1836,

Often referred to as the Father of Texas, for the
hundreds of families he brought into this state due to the relatively poor economic
conditions in the United States at the time, Stephen F. Austin was very successful in
recruiting families to move to Texas. On the death (1821) of his father, Moses Austin, he
took over a grant to bring U.S. settlers into Spanish Texas. Under the terms of a special
act in 1824 and additional contracts in 1825, 1827, and 1828--all granted by the newly
independent Mexican government--the colonizer was responsible for the settlement of more
than 1,200 American families in Mexican Texas.

In 1835, following a period of imprisonment
in Mexico City, Austin urged Texans to join federalists in Mexico in revolt against the
centralist dictatorship of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. During the Texas Revolution (1835-36),
Austin briefly commanded Texas volunteers and then went to the United States to gain
support for the Texan cause. He served as secretary of state of the republic.